The present disclosure relates to an image forming apparatus that undergoes a maintenance work by a maintenance worker.
In certain instances, the image forming apparatus might need to perform a maintenance work for maintaining service quality. In the maintenance work, the image forming apparatus is designed to be able to output maintenance information from the image forming apparatus, update firmware of the image forming apparatus, and change various setting values in the image forming apparatus. Further, in the maintenance work, the image forming apparatus is designed to be able to output maintenance information from the image forming apparatus. Confidential information of a user is sometimes stored in the image forming apparatus, and thus it needs to take measures against leakage of the confidential information in performing a maintenance work. Therefore, there has been proposed so far a technology allowing only an authenticated maintenance worker to perform a maintenance work, an external terminal carried by the maintenance worker to specify as an output destination of the maintenance information, thereby preventing the maintenance information from being printed.
Some of the various setting values of the image forming apparatus can be set by a user, and activate the image forming apparatus based on the user setting value. For example, the image forming apparatus can be operated by adjusting the user setting value so as to set a user accessible to the confidential information, and by creating a security environment so as not to leak the confidential information. When the user setting value is changed, an operation of the image forming apparatus is changed accordingly. Thus, there has been proposed so far a technology protecting a setting value from being changed by other users.